The Place of Knowing: Living from Your Truth PART II by Dr. Donna Beck ND

Our instincts tell us that our deepest truths are sacred to us. Therefore they are very well protected in our inner world. Our psyche has a strong subconscious ability to construct a fortress around our “Placeof Knowing.” We do this to protect ourselves from harm or destruction. If knowing ourselves makes us real and visible then it also makes us vulnerable. The tearing down of the personal truths that we are built on could potentially destroy us (or so it seems) so it is a place worthy of our protection.

Our past stories go along with us as we move into our future selves, all- the-while we try to get the most out of living in the here and now. The emotional and physical traumas and the wounding that occurs during the course of our personal and medical history fragment our body and our soul and weave patterns of behavior into our actions and choices. These actions affect all aspects of our health and our lives. We creatively construct these emotional patterns because they are survival mechanisms. We apply them to ourselves with strength akin to super glue! Awareness of these patterns is imperative in experiencing the whole of ourselves. Ironically, the very mechanisms that we construct to protect ourselves may be so impenetrable that not only do they keep out offenders but they hide us from some of the best parts of ourselves as well. It is not illogical to expect therefore, to find your “Place of Knowing” located in the middle of an inner world jungle. It could be protected by a large bog of hot and negative feelings, or you may have to cross a bitter “Iceland” of feeling to get there.

There are other reasons why efforts in recognition and a journey of self-discovery are required to get to our sacred place of truths about our self. We may block what we know to be a truth about our self because we fear the changes we will have to make if we listen to the truths we find. Like the Queen in the story of Snow White, we ask the mirror to tell us beautiful things about our self. To be shown the “not so lovely” things about our self may lead to shock and self-reproach, or feelings of guilt and shame. We want to throw that mirror against the wall and run. Sometimes we lash out from the pain. Perhaps we just decide to leave well enough alone and not go looking at all.

Another distraction; less “deep” but perhaps the most common one of all, is the noisy static brought to us through everyday living. We struggle to fit into the molds and trends and social norms that society creates for us. We don’t even know that we have options to mold ourselves. It does not occur to us because we rush and bounce along in the river of life. We are stuck in a place of NOT KNOWING.

Ignoring the place of Knowing:

The further a person moves from their own personal truths, the more tossed about they feel. You give up more and more of your personal power until you are nothing but a product of everyone else’s opinions, needs, desires and societies version of the person you are “suppose” to be. Or the wounding you carry just becomes too heavy. The negative effects on one’s body and soul are countless, really. We flow into greater states of DIS-EASE. You will not glow with beauty and health, no matter how much you pamper your external form because the burden of trying to make yourself into something you are not is just too stressful! As a society and as individuals we must begin to realize that disease is a message to wake up and be whole again; to be real and true to whom we are. Wake up and choose what we KNOW is best for our self, and ultimately for our health.

“How many health-related problems could be avoided if we were taught, and collectively encouraged by one another to create space to listen to our bodies and do what it says? What if we not only noticed and experienced awareness of our body’s often subtle signals but that we had the opportunity and the ability to choose to respond fully to these messages before they became medically relevant? I believe it possible that by this simple prescription of listening and responding, we would make a major contribution toward solutions to insidious conditions like obesity, autoimmune disease, addiction, chronic fatigue, generalized anxiety, depression and the epidemic of adrenal deregulation that we now see in ourselves and in our patients. Would people experience fewer illnesses and injuries? Would we slow down the aging process? Would we increase lifespans? I believe so!”

Perhaps you KNOW that you want to quit the job that is ruining your health and happiness. “KNOWING” can mean facing an addiction and admitting to yourself that you need help. It can mean setting boundaries with a loved one who you find yourself enabling. It can mean forgiving someone and more importantly, forgiving one’s self.

Acting From your Place of Knowing

You may need professional counseling to help navigate your inner world; someone to help you understand your emotional and even spiritual pain patterns and teach you skills for management and change. Although you can’t change the story of your life, you CAN transform your wounding into wisdom. Accumulating the riches of wisdom is quite the whole point of our soul’s growth, really. You may need a doctor who will help you construct and monitor a customized health care plan so you can reverse patterns of DIS-ease and be as well as you can be.

But to act from your “Place of Knowing” and receive the blessings therein, you don’t have to have years of special training nor do you need to spend thousands of dollars to learn how to connect with this part of yourself. All you have to do is find a way to be still and listen, then be willing to act on what you KNOW. When you do this, then bit by bit-perhaps slowly at first, but for surely- your “outer world self” begins to match your “inner world self.” It will become possible to strike that all elusive sense of balance and wellbeing that is essential to genuine holistic health and happiness. By allowing clarity of desire and your most personal truth to drive your actions you can begin to build the confidence it takes to create your own health and happiness. What you “put out” in this regard will come back to you many fold. By acting on the facts that you access from your own “Place of Knowing” you access the power you need to will courage and risk change. You can do so because you KNOW, without a doubt, the thing that will support and satisfy you like nothing else will. NOW, all you have to do is claim it.